While Blogs are a great source of information for us all to utilise there is a growing trend on Wamp for threads simply linking to Blogs without adding to the content on Wamp itself. Some of these are a direct attempt to drive traffic to that Blog. We would encourage you to share content directly on Wamp itself (and include a link in your signature) but we understand this isn't always wanted by the blog author. We would therefore ask that if you are posting content that requires readers to go to another website or Blog that you post it in the links section of the forum. Blogs hosted on Wamp are excluded of course! We hope you understand. If you have any issues please contact Darklord

As part of the Wamp restyling we have also updated the Wamp clothing store to match. The new official clothing features the new wamp logo and URL and we are also able to now offer worldwide shipping options.
We now have two stores open, for Uk and European orders we have wamp.spreadshirt.net and for North America and Rest of World we have wamp.spreadshirt.com

To celebrate the launch of the new Wamp clothing range we are holding a T-shirt design contest. For all you budding artists and designers we are offering you the chance to get your design into the Wamp range of clothing. Not only that but we will also award the winner with £50 credit for the Wampstore.

The Wampstore now welcomes MUELLERSMONSTERS to its fold. Mueller Monsters is the brain child of Mike Mueller who produces some quirky (and Big!!) pieces.
The first three available are now on Pre Order in The Wampstore.

Its results time folks and its a bit special this time with the added inclusion of a world famous miniature lover, but enough about Jim Ludwig and more about Mr George R.R. Martin!! George is an avid miniature collector and as the creator of the series that inspired the very miniatures in the contest is uniquely poised to give a real authoritative insight on them.

Rather than me waffling on I will simply post what Jim had to say:

Hello to the WAMP members that participated in this Dark Sword Miniatures painting contest. Thank you very much for entering this competition and putting your work on display for us to enjoy. George and I finally were able to get on the phone to review the entries on our computers together (George is a busy guy as we all know - something about books to write and a series to finish?). Anyway, we had a most excellent time checking out the interesting and varied interpretations of the miniatures entered. George loves painted miniatures and is a big collector of minis - has been most of his life actually. He started off as an old school toy soldier collector (54mm old school stuff) but Dark Sword has since gotten him hooked on collecting gaming scale minis as well.

In regards to this contest - technical skill combined with overall impact of the miniature/diorama in question were how we judged the entries.

Please note - there is never a substitute for seeing a miniature in person at a competition as a judge can fully take in the technical skills presented on the miniature from 360 degrees and compare models side by side in the same light sources (which is so key). Camera's and lighting set-ups for pictures do not come into play in a live (in person) competition. However, online competitions are fun to do and offer up a place to compete for those painters that cannot get out to Gen Con Indy or other notable painting competitions around the world. Plus painters from all over the world can win some free prizes, so what is not to like? So painters that did not place take note, a live and in person judging of the pieces entered in this contest may have yielded somewhat different results.

And just for the record, George R.R. Martin and myself were in total agreement on the top 6 entries from what we saw in the pictures submitted. There was some lively discussions back and forth of course as we discussed who would take what place in terms of ranking, but there was no debate at all about first place. So without further delay, here is our list of winners.

First Place and $200 in Dark Sword Miniatures Online Store Credit goes to:Cersei Lannister by Orki
George loved the painting of Robert - felt it was a nice touch to a stunning Cersei paintjob. It would appear that the Tom Meier Cersei models gets tons of love from many top painters all over the world. But the skills on this piece could not be denied. It was our overall top pick - no debating at all...

Second Place and $100 in Dark Sword Miniatures Online Store Credit goes to: Recalling the Days of Glory (Stannis Baratheon) by Ana
George really liked the peeling paint from the throne and the overall mood this piece evoked.

Third Place and $50 in Dark Sword Miniatures Online Store Credit goes to:Sansa et l'Homme-Chien by Xur
George any myself were both very impressed with the modifications on both the Hound and Sansa sculpts to help push the impact/mood of the diorama. The painting was very impressive as well.

Fourth Place and $25 in Dark Sword Miniatures Online Store Credit goes to: Legend of the Red Lake (Bronn) by Ana
The OSL lighting effect on this piece and the mastery of true metallics was something to behold.

Honorable Mention and $25 in Dark Sword Miniatures Online Store Credit goes to:Arya Hiding from Little Finger by Megzord_Man
George and thought this diorama deserved the Honorable Mention for the painter pushing themselves on something more complex than a typical single mini entry. Lots can go wrong on larger dioramas with multiple minis. So this is one for the effort.

There were of course a number of other very well done models and diorama's in the contest. I will be posting their pictures on the Dark Sword site in our galleries to be on display with the likes of Jen Haley and Marike Reimer miniatures to be enjoyed by miniature collectors/painters all over the world.

I will be in contact with the painters noted above via email once Brett from WAMP provides me your email addresses. I can then get you taken care of with some cool new Dark Sword swag prizes.

Thanks again to all those that entered. Miniature painting is a wonderfully rewarding hobby. We do appreciate your efforts. And for the record - George and I both want you to know - you all paint a heck of alot better than we do!

Warm regards from the often chilly Minnesota (Just north of some wall according to George when he was in town a couple years ago and brought a ton of snow with him? Whatever that means...)

Jim

So there you go folks. Congratulations to all our winners but especially our champion Orki. heres his piece:

I would persoanlly like to thank everyone involved in this contest, everyone that entered the contest or commented on the submissions, but especially thank you to Jim at Dark Sword who's continued support for one of our most popular contests and for well frankly creating such awesome piece of metal heaven.
Finally a most heartfelt thank you to Mr George R.R. Martin. It has been really special to have the creative genius that gave rise to the very minitures in the contest (abely brought to life by Dark Sword) and I think to get the personal judgement from George is really rather special and I am sure the competitors themselves think the same. I know plenty of Wampers are big fans of George's book and the Game of Thrones TV series and I am sure we all wish George contuned sucess with them.

Yes folks those awesome chaps at Maelstrom games have once more unleashed their Banelegions and Banebeasts upon Wamp and man is it a strong showing this year!
Last years inaugural event was brilliant but this years takes things to a whole new level. not only have Maelstrom been releasing their creations at an ever increasing rate but they are giving us our biggest ever prize list for a Wamp Special.

So I am sure you are all eager to hear the details now your salivating at the thought of getting your hands on some miniature goodness.
The Contest:
The contest is open to and miniature from the Banelegions or Banebeast ranges. Your entries can
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Wampstore: Game Forces Magazine

You can now buy Game Forces Magazine from the Wampstore. Game Forces Magazine is a Bi Monthly spanish publication featuring some of the finest mini painters in the world. It is printed in Spanish and is supplied with

Mini Painting Wiki

As most of you are aware Wamp is home to Minipaintingwiki.com a community driven project to try ad create a miniature related wiki that can contain valuable information on miniature painting and the surrounding hobby.

The wiki got off to a great start but floundered a little mainly due to me spreading my time to thin. This is something I have wanted to address and a few changes have

It's time for a new contest and also time for a new sponsor, coming to the table we have on the the biggest miniature companies in the world in the form of Privateer Press! I am sure you all know them and their fantastic range of miniature awesomeness.

We have some great prizes to tempt you into entering. The contest will be split into 3 categories and a best in show.

Wamp is continuing to grow and as such my time is becoming more precious as I need to spread myself across more and more elements of the site. As such I want to try and delegate a couple of things, to not only keep them going but to push them further and help make Wamp even better for us all.
As such I am looking for one or two people that would like to get involved with the site. It is a purely voluntary thing and the
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We have a massive update today with 3 new companies joining the Wampstore and they have some cracking pieces in their ranges, everything from Catfish riding Boglins, Death Kiwi's and Pensioner fairies to Egyptian Gods and Space Emperors!!

First up is a company you are all familiar with Kabuki.

We also welcome another Wamper to our store in the form of Warploque Miniatures
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From their announcement
Two of the new Snow trooper pieces which were sent away this week.Adam has done a great job on these.Cant wait to get castings back and sent away for painting.
Would love to know what people think of them.
The first batch of Snow
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